Clock and time controlled switch for electric lights



Nov. 20, 1928.

- F. GROSSI CLOCKVAND TIME CONTROLLED SWITCH FOR ELECTRIC LIGHTS FiledJan. 27, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 fianfifrassl' ATTOR N EY Nov. 20, 1928.1,692,729 F. GROSSI CLO.CK AND TIME CONTROLLED SWITCH FOR ELECTRICLIGHTS Filed Jan. 27, 1927 s Sheets-Sheet y F-FanZ {rassf INVEN XORWITNESWWA ATIOHNEY Nov. 20, 1928. r 1,692,729

F. GROSS] CLOCK AND TIME CONTROLLED SWITCH FOR ELECTRIC LIGHTS FiledJan. 27, 1927 s Sheets-Sheet 3 5am? grass 1' ATTORNEY INVENTOR 15 allyset-2 so that. the switch is Patented Nov. 1928.

snossr or; rnovmnncn, Imogen ISLAND.

CLOCK. AND"TIMET CONTROLLED SWITCHf FORI ELECTRIC LIGHTS.

Application fl led Janu ary 27, 1927. Serial No 164,047.

This invention; relates to. time, control,

switches for electric lightsa-ndits general ob.- jectis to. provideaswitchot this: character for automatically controlling. a parking. lampof a vehicle, so that the" willrbe, illuminated. and extinguished. atpredetermined times. I I

A. further objectof the invention. is to. provide-a combined vehicleclock andswitch forthe dual purpose 0t indicating the time and also tocontrol a circuit to an electriclamp carried' by the? vehicle ;v theswitch being actuated by mechanism imthe clock. casing and saidmechanism. being capable ofbeing manupredetermined times forcont-rolling'the lam-p accordingly. I

Another .obj ect of rthe invention. .is to. provide a timecontrolled-switch that is'elficient. inoperatiou, simple inconstruction. and inexpensive to mann-fac-tureu Y his. invention alsoconsists in certainother featuresot construction and in the combinationand-arrangement ofthe severalfparts, to be: hereinafter fully described,illustrated in the accompanying. drawings and specifically pointed outin the-L appended claims,

In describing my invention in detail, reference will be had to the.accompanying draw-' ings wherein like characters; denotelike orcorresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

F'gture l is a front elevation of the device forming-1 the subjectmatter of present invention. Y

Figure 2 is'asectionalviow taken outline 22: of Figure- 1 andlooking inthe direction otthe ar'rows. i

Figure '3 is a view 'simil-ar toFiguie 1 with i the dial or the clockremoved andshowing parts in section. v r

Figure 4 is a. top plan View of the device in applied position to: aninstrument board of a vehicle and showinqparts broken away and insection. r

Figure 5' is a sectional view taken on line of Figure- 3..

Figure 6 is g a sectional view taken on line v p wall of. the housing isalso in the nature of a 6-(i of Figure Figure 7 1s aspring disks.

detail view of. of the Figure '8 1s a similanview of" the springactuated gear which 1s associated with the disk asshown ini Fignre 7. 1Figure 9'is a sectional view taken approximatelyou line 9 4; ofEzgurefi,

actuated. at

Figurelt) is a perspective viewofthe switch act-u atingmember.

Figure. l1v is a diagrammatic View of the device and its circuit appliedto anautomobile.

Referring to the drawings in detail the numeral 1 indicates the clockcasing which is provided with the usual frame 2 for. receiving, theclock train as indicated in dot. and dashlines as shown in Figure 8. andthis frame also has arranged therein and formedwith a sleeve keyed tothe hour hand arbor, a gear: 3 which meshes with similar gears 4 and 5vdisposed upon opposite sides thereof and mounted for rotation on. stubshafts 6 and '7 which includes p art of the settingmechanism of theswitch actuating mechanismwhich will be presently described. The stub.shafts 6, and? are. each provided with knurled finger pieces 8 which.are secured to the. projecting ends thereof. as best shown in Figure 9.whereby these shafts can be rotated as will be readily apparent, andfixed to the shatt 6. is a dog, 9 while the shaft 7 has fixed thereto adog 10. Secured to the stub shafts 6. and 7 are ratchets 11 whichareprovided with. pawls 12 secured to the gears 4, and 5.

Pivotally mounted in the. frame 2 in a manner whereby their lower endsare. arranged in the path. of the rotation of the dogs 9. and 19 arearms 13: and 14 respectively. The arm 13 is provided with a roundedupper end which terminates in a substantially V-shaped' detcnt 15. Whilethe arm 14;- is of substantially bell crank shape in configuration andalso terminates in a substantially V-shaped detent. The lower ends ofthese arms 13 and 14 are held in the path of the dogs. 9 and 10v throughY stub. shaft21, and formed on theopposite end.

of said sleeve20 is a gear29 which is fixed to v a large disk 23 formlngone side Wall of a housing for a spring 24,. The oppos te, side disk25,which hiiormed therewith ahuh 2,6.

also having connection-with the spring 24: and

stubshaft. 2.1 as best shown in Figure-5. of the drawings. This lastmentioned disk is pro.- vided with tongues 27 arranged circumferentiallyonone side thereofas shown in Figure. Land which cooperates withelongatedlsnd stantially rectangular shaped recesses 28 provided in agear 22 which has formed there with the small disk 18. The stuh shaft 21is provided with a linger "niece 30 whereby the spring be wound thereon.for a purpose which will be presentl described. Arranged upon oppositesides of the stub shaft 21 are arhors 31 and which have secured theretopinions S3 and The pinion 33 meshes 'ith the 22, while the pinion 3%meshes with the gear 29 as host shown in Figure of the drawings. Each ofthese arbors 31 and have also secured thereto cam members 35 and 36respectively which cooperate with studs 3? laterally extending from thesub tantial tl-shaped arm 38 formed on the switch operating member asbest shown in Figure 10. lhe hod portion of this arm 38 is pi 'vidcdwith slots through which pass screw bol 10 for sec 'ing said arm forslidahle moven i t o one 51 it portion of the frame 2, T 16 outer end ofthe arm terminates in a right angled bent portion 11 which has securedtiereto through the ir trumentality of a screw bolt- 2 an elongatedinsulating block 9 Uilt.

10 which as shown is circular in cross section and provided with agroove n formed in its upper surface. This insulating block ertends intoa laterally disposed casing 45, fixed to the clock casng as shown Figure3 and which has insularing material 16 arranged therein. The insulatingmaterial 16 is provided with a circular here to accommodate the block 13as well as a metallic piece l? of circular cross section which is fixedto the block for n'lovement therewith as will be readily apparent. Theinsulating material is furth r provided. with aligned vertical boresthrough which pass binding posts 48 having their inner ends terminatingin head 49 curred to follow the curvature of the ire of the insulatingmaterial and arranged in s a 'ed relation for pas age of the metallicpiece in a manner whereby said piece will ch nge the heads for closing acircuit. Ari-air d in the aligned bores of the insulating material it;are coil springs 50 which re iii) the binding posts in their innermostpositions for engagement with the metallic piece or the insulating blockthe case may be which will be readily apparent. The head it) of theupper binding post 18 is provided with :1. depending rih 51 disposed tobe received in the groove 4+1 or a similar groove 52 which registerswith the groove 44 as best show in Figure 10 of the drawings. v

The clock is provided with the usual dial 53 through which passes thearbor for the hour hand as well as the arbor for the minute hand assuggested in Figure 1 of the drawings, and arranged on the dial 53 aredials 54: and through which passes the shafts 6 and 7 respectively.Fixed to the projecting ends of these last mentioned arbors are handsassociated with the numerals on the dials 5 1 and 55 which are providedwith the words Oil and On respectively as shown. Fixed to the hour andminute arbors respectively are the appropriate hands for cooperationwith the numerals of the dial f8.

The circuit for the switch is disclosed in Figure 11, and extending fromone of the binding posts 48 is a conductor 56 having electricalconnection with a parking lamp 5? in the present instance, and alsoelectrically connected to the parking lamp is the opposite conductor 58which is connected to a source of electrical energy 59 from whichextends a conductor 60 connected to av conductor 61 having its endselectrically connected to the op posite binding post and to one side ofa manually control switch 62, while the opposite side is electricallyconnected to the conductor 56 through the instrumentality of a conductor63.

From the above description and disclosure in the drawings, it will beobvious that I have provided a time controlled switch that is adapted tooperate at predetermined times for illuminating and extinguishing lamps,and in the present instance the switch is shown in circuit with aparking lamp of an automobile as shown in Figure 11, and if it isdesired to have the switch illuminated ata certain time, the shaft 7 isrotated for p0- sitioning the hand thereof with respect to the numeralon the dial 55, it depending of course what time it is desired toilluminate the parking lamp. For instance, if it is desired toilluminate the parking: lamp at four oclock, the switch 62 is closed andthe hand of the arbor 7 is set at four oclock as shown in Figure 1, andif it is desired to extinguish the parking lamp at seven oclock the handof the arbor 6 is set at seven oclock as shown. Of course, the spring 21 is wound about its shaft 21 through the medium of the finger piece 30.hen the gear 3 rotates the gear 5 of the shaft 7, to arrange the dog 10for engagement with the arm 18, the dog will move the detent- 15 out ofthe V-shape notch of the disk 18 and therefore release the same so thatthe spring 24 will rotate the gear 22 which will in turn rotate the gear33 and cause the cam member to engage the adjacent stud 37 and slide thearm 38 as to position the metallic piece -11? in contacting engagementwith the binding posts 48 as shown in Figure 3 of the drawings an dthereby closing the circuit to the parking lamp 5?. The switch willremain closed until seven oclock at which time the gear 3 will. havemoved the gear t in a position so that the dog 9 will engage the arm 14for moving the detent 15 thereof out of the l-shape notch of the disk sothat the spring 24: will at that time rotate the gear 29 which mesheswith the gear 34 secured to the arhor 32 and this 'arbor will cause thecam i'nember 36 to engage the adjacent stud 37 of the arm 38 andposilihj tion' the metallic piece out of engagement with the heads ofthe binding post and arrange the insulatingblock between the heads 49and thereby open the circuit to the parking lamp. From the abovedescription, it will be further seen that the spring will operate eitherof the gears 22 or 29 alternately as each are secured to the spring asset forth.

The detcnts prevent movementof the disks 18 and 19 until the detentsareentirely removed from the V shaped notches of these disks'by the dogs9 and 10 which are ar ranged so as not to entirely remove the detentsuntil the dogs snap off the ends of the arms 13 and 14. The detentsallow. only one revolution of the disks 18 and 19, as the springs 16 forthe arms 13 and 14 force the detents back into the notches after suchrevolution The gears 33 and 34, are rotated by the arbors 31 and 32which have secured thereto the cam members 35 and 36 as set forth. Thecam members are providedwith curved and straight surfaces as best showninFigure 3 of the drawings, and are arrangedwhereby the surfaces will bedisposed in opposed re lation with respect to each other, with theresult when one cam member has moved the switch arm by the engagement ofthe curved surface thereof with its stud 37, the straight surface of theother cam member is arranged so as to allow its stud to pass toward thecurved surface of this last mentioned cam member so that this stud willbe arranged in the path of the curved surface of its cam member forreversingthe movement of the switch arm when the last mentioned cammember is moved by its arbor.

It is thought from the foregoing descrip tion that the advantages andnovel features of my invention will be readily apparent.

I desire it to be understood that I may make changes in the constructionand in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, providedthat such changes fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is: I

1. In a device of the character described, a clock, a time controlledswitch associated with said clock and including a casing laterallydisposed and secured to the casing of the clock, an arm. mounted forreciprocation in the clock casing, insulating material arranged in saidfirst mentioned casing and being provided with a bore, an insulatingblock of circular cross section secured on said arm and arranged in saidbore, a metallic piece secured to the free end of said insulating blockfor movement therewith, a pair of spaced binding posts arranged inalignment in bores formed in said insulating material,

heads on said posts and being arranged in the path of the insulatingblock and metallic piece respectively, means on one of said heads andbeing engageable in grooves formed in the metallic piece andsaid'ins'ulating block, and mechanism operated by the clock mechanismfor reciprocating said arm at predetermined times. 7

2. The combination with a clock and its casing, of a time controlledswitch comprising a casing laterally secured to the clock casing,

insulating material arranged in said first mentioned casing and beingprovided with a rounded bore, a frame included in the clock mechanism, asubstantially U-shaped arm provided with slots, means secured to saidframe and receiving said arm for slidable movement thereon, studsextending from said arm,.cam members cooperating with said studs formoving the arm, mechanism for operating the cam members at predeterminedtimes, binding posts arranged in aligned bores formed in the insulatingmaterial, heads formed on the inner ends of said binding posts, aninsulating block secured to said arm, a metallic piece secured to theouter end of said insulating block which together with said metallicpiece is capable of being disposed between the heads upon movement ofthe aim accordingly, and resilient means for retaining said heads incontacting engagement with the insulating block and metallic piecerespectively.

3. In a time controlled switch, a casing, an arm mounted forreciprocation, an insulating block secured to one end of said arm andmovable in. said casing, a metallicpiece secured to the free end of saidinsulating block and movable with the latter, studs extending laterallyfrom said. arm, means engagcable with said studs at predetermined timesfor reciprocating said arm accordingly, and spring pressed headedbinding posts ar ranged in the path of the insulating block and metallicpiece respectively.

4:. A time controlledswitch of the character described comprisin a casinsaaced' A b D contact means arranged in said casing, a

contact member slidably mounted in said casing and engageable with saidcontact means, means for operating said contact member and including asubstantially U-shaped arm provided with slots arranged therein, meanspassing through said slots in a manner for mounting said arm forreciprocation, means for reciprocating said arm and including cammembers, studs extending from the arm and being engageable by the cammembers, means for operating said cam members and including disksprovided with notches, means having detents associated with saidnotches, means controlled by a clock mechanism and including meansengageable with the detent means for releasing the detents from thenotches at predetermined times and setting means for the releasingmeans.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

FRANK GROSSI.

